


Earning the right to call him “Noct”

by leiden_potato



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Friendship, middleschooler noct
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 19:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10342692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiden_potato/pseuds/leiden_potato
Summary: They've known each other for years, but he calls him "Prince Noctis" even in private...





	

The meeting finally concluded several hours overdue, yet two members of the committee continued to chastise him about his declining grades right there in the hallway. He was the prince, but the prestigious high school will not accept him easily if he did not show extraordinary potential.

Impatient, Noctis extracted himself gradually but persistently, walking backwards and offering curt nods to indicate his farewell, promising that he will ‘definitely do better’ throughout the rest of the semester. He dropped the act the moment he rounded the corner and escaped their judgmental watchful eyes, and made for his private quarters.

There were no new messages on his phone, but the digital watch on his wrist blinked the time 11:53 PM. It was super late at night, he only hoped his last appointment wouldn’t suffer from the unexpected delay. 

Ignis would wait for him, wouldn’t he?

Every step came quicker than the one before it, his shoes knocked loud against the polished marble floors of the royal wing, Noctis all but jogged to his living room and barged in, with only his key card buzzing to undo the lock and a dying apology on his smiling lips.

“Sorry I’m late!” He announced not even halfway through the door, but the vast room ahead was silent and dim; empty.

The persistent wheezing escaping his slack mouth filled the silence, and then the door eased closed with finality. He yanked on the uncomfortable tie and undid the top button of his lapel, dejected.

His downward gaze caught on a piece of paper left on the entrance table, the handwriting elegant and crisp. “I had to leave after forty minutes. Scientia.”

The sigh that escaped his burning lungs was interrupted by a knob rattling open, and then one Ignis Scientia walked out of the wash room. “Oh, My apologies.” He said simply, “I had to use your facilities.”

Noctis stared, “The paper said you left.” and showed it to him before tossing it back onto the table and placing his hands on his hips.

“Yes, I had intended to leave immediately after writing it, but I have a long ride ahead and couldn’t afford to be late anymore than I already am.” He adjusted his glasses and studied the young man currently fighting to regain some breath. “Is something the matter?”

Noctis opened his mouth to say something, but the sight of his busy advisor focused solely on the screen of his phone made him reconsider. “Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” Ignis typed a short message and slipped his phone back into his pocket, “Your message said you had something to talk about.”

“Nah.”

Pressed for time, Ignis shifted his weight to the other leg and fixed the boy with a lengthy gaze. “You had me wait forty minutes over nothing?” He waited for a response but there was none, “Couldn’t you send me an indication that I could proceed to my next appointment? I hadn’t begun my drive and I’m already late.”

“My bad.” Noct shrugged and turned to look out the large windows overlooking the city, the night view cast golden lights on his stiff silhouette.

“Well, then. Excuse me.” Ignis bowed and made to the door, remembered the suit jacket he forgot on the couch, and made to grab it before leaving.

Hearing the door close shut, Noctis allowed his shoulders to drop and his frustrations to come bursting out. “I just wanted to see you…”

“Excuse me?”

Noctis turned in surprise, hair flying everywhere, face noticably flushed. “I thought you left!”

“I forgot my jacket…” Ignis said slowly, “Are you… crying?”

“I’m not!” Noctis snapped and turned his head back to the window. “It’s- It’s nothing.”

The straining in his chest didn’t sound like ‘nothing’ to Ignis, his phone vibrated again, the King’s advisor was getting impatient.

“Hello, this is Scientia.” He said to the secretary on the other end, his eyes fixed on the defenseless back of his ward. “I’m afraid my business holds me longer than anticipated, I cannot make it to tonight’s meeting. Yes, I do not know when I will be able to, so i must reschedule. I understand. You have my sincerest apologies. Have a good night.” 

Noctis watched the exchange through the reflection on the glass, and only turned to look directly at him when the phone call ended. “I thought it was important.”

“It was.” Ignis admitted with a sigh, “But you are more important.”

The phrase was meant to put the young prince’s mind at ease, but it only seemed to upset him more. He whipped his head back to the sleepless Insomnia below and tightly crossed his arms.

“What did you mean you ‘only wanted to see me’?” the kindness in his words did nothing to fill the cold silence that followed, it was uncomfortable for both of them. “Prince, please explain. Have I done something to upset you?”

“No.”

“Then…?”

“It’s nothing.”

The conversation had reached a dead end. Ignis had been here on several occasions; the prince would put up his walls high and mighty, and there was nothing anybody could do to get through to him, not even the king himself.

It was the first time Noctis had put up his guard because of him, though, and that left a bitter taste in his mouth. usually he’d let things run their course and when the mood started to look up again, he would sweep in and comfort Noctis with whatever he could offer. Sometimes it was baked sweets, other times a road trip to the nearest arcade, he was supposed to be the fixer-upper of any disagreement. 

Now, though, it almost felt like there would be no returning from this.

Noctis was shutting him out personally, and it was almost… maddening?

“I thought you were my friend.” Noct sighed, admitting defeat. “I just wanted to hang out… Nothing serious. But… You’re so busy and I’m… so…” He released another shaky sigh and brushed an annoying strand of hair off the back of his neck. “I won’t bother you again.”

“Nonsense.” Ignis approached and laid a comforting hand on the shorter one’s shoulder, drawing his attention to look at him directly. “I’m honored to be your friend.”

“Really…?”

He smiled, relieved that this skinny nerd was upset over something so trivial it never crossed his mind. “I apologize for not addressing your insecurities earlier, but I consider you a dear and irreplaceable friend. The only one for whom I would ditch a private dinner with the King’s advisor, in fact.”

Big blue eyes watched him speak every word with growing relief. “Then why the heck were you being a jerk about it!” 

“I am under a lot of restraints as well!” He busied himself with undoing the prince’s badly knotted necktie. “With your grades and health fluctuating this last month, the grown ups are becoming anxious. Everybody needs me to tell them what they want to hear, and i could not possibly burden you with my rants when you’ve barely begun to recover from your last bout of flu.”

Noctis watched with furrowed brows as his right cuff link got undone, and then the other. “Still, lately you’re treating me less like a friend… and… more like a burden.”

Ignis couldn’t help but flinch at the sharp words, from the one person whose opinion meant the world, nonetheless. “I never meant for it to be that way; I only assumed my presence would stress you more in these trying times and made to reduce my presence in your private space.”

“Yeah, no, don’t do that anymore.” He shook his head dismissively, and actually reached up to undo Ignis’ bow tie. “Now that it’s cleared up, I have a request.”

“Yes, your highness?”

“Stop calling me ‘your highness’ when it’s only us.” He ordered with a small smile, his face slightly flushed from the awkwardness of the whole ordeal. “Just call me Noct.”

“As you wish… Noct.” He was the first person to have that honor be bestowed upon him, at least for a little while. “Now that my schedule is cleared, would you like to watch that tv show I kept recommending?”

The prince scrunched up his nose, “You mean historical documentary? Ehh… sure, why not.”

“You mean: Why Noct.“

“ughhhh!”

It would only be another semester before Noctis joined Ignis in his public high school, having been rejected by the first royal option because of his mediocre grades (it was on purpose) and only then did they meet another freshman who would join the small circle of actual friends allowed to call him ‘Noct’.


End file.
